HIDDEN FEE
Priority boarding & cabin bag fee
Priority boardingLarger cabin bag fee
Some airlines restrict the free cabin allowance to a small under-seat bag and sell “priority” as the way to bring a larger wheelie bag into the cabin and board first. Where that is how the airline is structured, priority can be less about queue-jumping and more about your bag — which is why it is easy to under-count when comparing fares.
Where it applies
How to avoid or shrink it
- Pack within the free under-seat allowance and you can skip it entirely.
- Check exactly what the free cabin allowance is on your airline before assuming your bag fits.
- If two of you travel, one priority slot sometimes covers a shared larger bag — check the rules.
THE HONEST CAVEAT
On airlines with a generous free cabin allowance, priority boarding is a genuine convenience extra. On airlines with a tiny free allowance, it is closer to a bag fee in disguise.
Count it in your true total
Run a specific booking through the calculator and this fee is counted — sourced, dated and confidence-graded alongside everything else the headline price leaves out.
Back to the full fee glossary, or browse the Hidden-Fee Index.